Alabama, South Carolina picked to meet in 2011 SEC Championship Game

South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier leans over to speak to Alabama coach Nick Saban before last season's game, won by the Gamecocks. Their two teams are picked to meet for the SEC title this year by the league's 12 football information directors. (AP Photo/Mary Ann Chastain)

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier has been playing a lot of golf lately, which is probably a good thing since his short game needs some work and his football team's play around the green late in the year needs some fixing.

Even with last season's historic trip to the SEC Championship Game, the Gamecocks wound up losing their last two games and for the third straight year they lost their bowl game.

That might explain why the ballcoach's golf game is off and he's not blown away with all the expectations that have found their way to Columbia this year. But if South Carolina is ever going to win an SEC title since joining the league in 1992, "we've got to learn to finish what we start," Spurrier said. "We've kinda stunk it up toward the end."

The Gamecocks have lots of pieces to change that. There are 13 starters back, a championship caliber defense, a playmaking wide receiver in Alshon Jeffery, a playmaking runner in Marcus Lattimore and a veteran quarterback in Stephen Garcia who, when he's not in Spurrier's doghouse, is capable of running the show.

In The Birmingham News' 65th annual Spring SEC Football Preview, South Carolina and Alabama are the teams to beat. According to voters in The News' 2011 report -- the league's 12 football information directors -- Alabama and South Carolina are the choices to win their respective divisions and meet in the Dec. 3 SEC Championship Game in Atlanta.

South Carolina received the maximum five first-place votes from the Eastern Division football information directors to top its division with 25 points.

Alabama, in a battle with LSU in the West, picked up four first-place votes for a total of 24 points to edge the Tigers, who received two first-place votes and 22 points.

In the overall strength poll, the Crimson Tide ran away with the voting, picking up 10 of the maximum 11 first-place votes from all directors to top the conference with 120 points.

By leading the overall poll, the Tide is the preseason pick to leave the Georgia Dome as the SEC champion. LSU was runner-up with 107 points, while South Carolina was third with 95.

A school's football information director could not vote for his school in the polls.

Following Alabama and LSU in the West was Arkansas with 16 points. Defending national champion Auburn was picked fourth with 13 points. Mississippi State and Ole Miss were fifth and sixth with 10 and 5 points, respectively.

In the East, perennial leader Florida finds itself second for the first time in three years. The Gators received only one first place vote and finished with 20 points. Georgia was third with 18 points, followed by Tennessee with 12 points, Kentucky with nine and Vanderbilt with six.

For Nick Saban and Alabama, this is the third straight year the Tide has been picked at the top of the West.

Unlike last season, when Alabama entered the year with question marks across the defensive board, this year's team has nine starters back and all-star talent galore starting with linebackers Dont'a Hightower, C.J. Mosley and Courtney Upshaw, safeties Mark Barron and Robert Lester, cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick and experienced linemen in Damion Square and Josh Chapman.

"The expectations were really unrealistic for last year's team," said Saban. "We lost a lot of good football players. We had nine new starters on defense and a new punt returner, new punter, new kicker, new snapper. When you have as many players sign pro contracts as we had from that (2009) team, and you've got as many guys who make NFL teams, just to think the next season is going to be a continuation of that is unrealistic."

And this year's defense?

"We've got a lot of good football players back but, like we've told our team, everybody's got to take ownership -- not only that they are playing their best but making sure the other players on the team play their best."

Given what he's seen through spring practice and summer workouts, Saban says "I think we have a little more maturity on our team. It seems our players are hungry this year."

If the defense lives up to the hype, the Tide's success might very well come down to how productive the offense is with an established line, talent at receiver and running back but a glaring hole at quarterback. Two-year starter Greg McElroy has graduated and redshirt sophomore AJ McCarron and freshman Phillip Sims waged a battle for the starting job in spring practice.

McCarron, with his spot duty last season, enters the fall as the clubhouse leader.

"There are some things they have to learn that they are only going to be able to learn playing in a game," Saban said. "We understand the issues we have moving forward, but I would rather have two talented guys that really are committed to being good players."

If there is a team in the league that might stack up with Alabama's defense, it's South Carolina's. Up front are preseason All-SEC linemen Devin Taylor and Melvin Ingram. The secondary that wasn't so hot last season has a shutdown corner in preseason All-SEC player Stephon Gilmore and experience in safeties Akeem Auguste and DeVonte Holloman.

"We've got some talent on defense, but we haven't done anything yet," said Spurrier. "We've got some guys on offense that can make a first down. But we've got some issues. We finished seventh in defense and seventh in offense in the conference rankings. So we did not dominate.

"Our special teams have not scored a touchdown since I've been here. So we have a ways to go. Don't get too overly excited about our guys right now."